Spotify has hired one of Rupert Murdoch's execs to spearhead its attempt to break away from the start-up pack and give bigger rivals like Pandora or iTunes a run for their money.

Jorge Espinel
LinkedIn

Jorge Espinel, previously the head of 21st Century Fox and News Corp.'s digital strategy, is now in charge of global business development at Spotify. Spotify confirmed the hire to CNET, and Espinel listed the job on his LinkedIn profile Thursday.

For all its success elbowing to the front of a pack of streaming music start-ups, Spotify far lags the numbers put up by Pandora, Sirius XM or iTunes for users.

To rise to the fore of music-streaming startups, Spotify sealed parternships with European mobile telecommunications companies like Vodafone, Orange, Telia and Telefónica, which bundled Spotify with their services and helped propel the Stockholm-based service to the kind of reach it has now. It enjoys very high adoption in areas like Sweden, its home turf.